Misplaced Television
You know, I like Borders (the bookstore) a lot. They serve fairly good coffee in the cafe, and they carry my books (sometimes). I wrote a chunk of my dissertation and some of my first book in that cafe, most of my entertainment budget involves books I buy from there.
But whoever decided to put a television in the cafe is an idiot who should be fired immediately. I don’t want to listen to an advertisement for a show about, I guess, older women who have sex with younger men, a dozen times in an hour, and I surely don’t want the same annoying music looped over and over to compete with the store music.
August 10, 2009 at 2:33 am
Ah. The widescreen TV that no one pays attention to, required in all Borders to endlessly loop whatever movie tie-in so that related books and CDs and DVDs can be displayed with it. At the location where I work, we have the sound turned down so that you have to be practically standing on top of it to hear it.
August 10, 2009 at 2:45 am
Aha! So you *do* have control over it! They lied to me!
August 11, 2009 at 2:25 am
There’s probably some corporate mandate over how loud the thing’s supposed to be. I have no idea, what with my being a lowly grunt.
August 19, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Speaking of books, I wanted to share this link with you Patrick.
This guy from Scotland gives a ringing endorsement for your previous book.
August 20, 2009 at 11:42 am
Television in a bookstore? I wonder what wonder-marketer thought of that one.
Now, I suppose that makes me an old reactionary, but it was probably put there to prevent people from staying very long.
I find that since I don’t watch television (which puts me in a small minority, anyway), the noise does not fade into the background for me.